


Tender is the decay

by Apailana



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, reibert ss, reibert ss 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 13:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apailana/pseuds/Apailana
Summary: Originally posted on fanfiction.net on december 24th for the Reibert Secret Santa 2017From: Apailana (andreordaz on twitter)To: shadow-wyvern





	Tender is the decay

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net on december 24th for the Reibert Secret Santa 2017
> 
> From: Apailana (andreordaz on twitter)
> 
> To: shadow-wyvern

 

**~Tender is the decay~**

* * *

" _Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, lucifer, fili aurorae?!_   _Deiectus es in terram, qui deiciebas gentes!,_   _qui dicebas in corde tuo:_  ' _In caelum conscendam,_   _super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum,_   _sedebo in monte conventus_   _in lateribus aquilonis;_   _ascendam super altitudinem nubium,_   _similis ero Altissimo'"_

* * *

"Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

_**Ephesians** _ **6:9-17**

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

The silver and white flashes blurred with a tinkling over the violet canvas that began to darken with a sigh. The flakes fell one after the other, forming a gentle sound as they fell into their last destination of more fluffy snow, as immaculate and as tired as the one that was newly formed on the icy sky. From that night, the moon was reticent and capricious to appear, always hiding behind a fog; and the storm, on the other hand, did not slow down as its time passed, but was firm and inclement. It was as if the luminaries were claiming one of their beloved children, who had been formed from their entrails and who had now been snatched from that same Eden.

The son of God would no longer live in Heaven and from that moment on he would have to walk in the Earth of the children of man.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Jerusalem**

**Three years and two months ago**

"At the breath of God they perish;

at the blast of his anger they are no more."

Job 4:9

Gabriel, the messenger archangel, had carried the order they had been waiting for since its inception: the end of days had come.

They, the celestial warriors, would have to go down to exterminate the human race to end the sin and redeem it.

It would be a cruel and inclement genocide. Because who began to spread the version of angels as corny and soft beings, was nothing but an imbecile. They were magnanimous and brutal beings, they would not even have any problem to carry out their task that would just start in the Holy Land.

However, the truth was that no one had seen Gabriel since the Annunciation and that Miguel, the head of the army and leader of the troops of guardian angels, was  _mysteriously_ missing.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

The fallen angel advanced on the icy surface, with every step he took, he kicked his precious sword; and with each one of these blows, his feet, which had not been created to walk and which in fact had never walked, ached like the damned hell - if, given his situation, that expression could still have some grace.

He was bruised, a state he normally would not have reached in a fight in the name of the Most High against those below. He could not help wondering if it made sense to keep seeing them like that, with an inculcated superiority, now that he was basically at his level. Obviously, if he was so deteriorated was because now not only looked like a mortal ... but it was also one of them.

However, he had been created with matter from God, with matter from the cosmos, with matter from light. That gift and that existence that he led were so great that he simply abandoned it. He was a mortal: but forever he would be an ethereal, noble and indestructible one. A divine among the mundanes.

His condemnation would be that sooner or later that vulnerability would cause him to perish: he was no longer eternal and when his life was extinguished his soul could not return to Paradise. And then there were only two options left: Search for lost eternity, but this time in the hand of someone very different from his Creator, falling once more, now to the last link. Or resign himself and let the demons consume him.

He pressed his eyelids and denied strongly. The very thought of doing something so terrible seemed repulsive to him. He had been raised in the Heavenly Court! He could never be a son of Satan no matter what predicament he was in! However ... if throughout his existence he had mentioned that he would end up being a son of man, he would not have believed it either.

Yearning for his past existence and not being able to endure a second longer the existence that now awaited him, he let himself fall on the whiteness and corrupted it with a carmine and sour disappointment that sprang from the two painful wounds he wore on his back.

The contact with the ice, relieved his ardor with an anesthetizing softness.

While everything he had once venerated was moving away, he could not help but think of the boy he had saved his life from: Reiner. And he knew that, although it would never be worth it, at least his fall had a justification that consoled him.

His surrounder darkened.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

He woke up three days later. The wounds on his back were bandaged and he was tied with ropes to a bed. He could not help but being sad because he who had previously flown in freedom, was now tied.

He raised his eyes and what he found would be something he could never get rid of, something that would always remain embedded in his-now evicted-soul:

The blond boy who had been entrusted with his protection since his birth was sitting in front of him with a rifle and with a bewildered attitude.

The fallen angel shuddered: that boy was the one he had fallen for ... and he was afraid, he was afraid of him.

The gesture was bitter ... however, he more than anyone knew perfectly to that soul for which he had given everything. He knew, for example, that this was the rifle with which he attempted suicide months ago, an act from which he managed to save himself by the small will to live that was still in him and that was ignited after his guardian angel, Bertholdt, managed to convince the angel Colt to guide his protege, Falco, to Reiner at the right time. He also knew that he could not blame the other for fearing him ... after all he was an angel and at that moment the situation between angels and humans was not the friendliest.

Zeke used to say that when the sky became a disaster the angels ended up falling. For example, when the most perfect star full of wisdom and finished in beauty decided to rebel and start his own reign in the underworld. Or when men were created and angels were sent to physically fight demons on earth to protect them...

What a better opportunity than the situation in which they were to unleash a new wave of fallen.

He could have understood if the other decided to kill him. However, and that caused him a spark of curiosity and something else, the blond had not got rid of him, but instead had bandaged his back to prevent him from bleeding. That was more than he could have expected. That and that that boy had not died.

—I'm glad you're still living. —His sincerity was still that of an angel, but his kindness was that of a human, since it was to these that they were granted the virtue of charity.

Reiner inhaled not understanding, but immediately a hint of calm overwhelmed him before those words: "I'm glad you're still living." He recognized that same inner serenity as one that had accompanied him in different moments of his life. One that was rather superhuman. He could not help but wonder if the sanity he had left had finally succumbed to madness. Did it matter?— You saved me in the fight, right?

The other nodded praying because he remembered, praying that his recognition would be beyond.

—And you ... you're not one of us, right? —The sad and kind figure of that wounded being who was lying in his own bed, before had only been visible in too unreal moments.

—Now I am ...

The blond rolled his eyes—. I would like to believe you, I would like to believe that I do not know that you are one of them and that you can kill me ... however, you could have done it in the battle, but instead you saved me. Why are you like this now, angel?

—Because I fell.

—Did they cut your wings because you saved my life that day?

He did not answer ... it was not necessary.

—And why are you here, angel?

—Because I have no other place to go ...

—You know? Actually I do not either ...

It was enough for the human to understand that the other was injured and that he had nowhere to go. He messed his blond hair with confusion. He was scared and tired ... but it was also clear to him that this broken man was the angel who had always protected him, who had more than once dragged him back to sanity and who a couple of months ago had saved his life at the most significant moment of his life. life, of their lives.

—My name is Reiner ...

—I know, of course I know. I am Bertholdt.

—I know it too, of course I know it too.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

**San Francisco, CA**

**2 months ago**

**Third anniversary of the first attack**

The angels were beautiful, powerful and cruel. They had slaughtered humans one after the other. However, they had forgotten something: humans were not mere little creatures to tread on. They had been created, yes, but in that same process they were given a will, they were given their own freedom.

The sons of man were violent, ambitious and annihilating ... but they were also persevering and compassionate. The combination of both aspects of humanity was something that the angels should never have forgotten.

By the time the human resistance led by Erwin Smith gave his final blow, the angels were too unwieldy in their pride to even have imagined that the monkeys they had so easily annihilated could even hit them on one of their feathers.

That battle in human history-whatever it lasted-would always be a moment of rejoicing. They were not stupid enough to try to win a war, but they were organized enough to leave a wound to the enemy that it gave to human beings, who from the beginning had considered lost all battles, a hope. Of course, in the process and at the cost of all the lives they had lost and would lose, they would be in charge of inflicting the most damage to those damned birds.

On the other hand, for the winged ones, that would be considered an uncomfortable moment that they would despise believing would not be repeated, but they should never have forgotten that it is based on small efforts that a triumph is achieved.

-Give your hearts!

Erwin started the most reckless feat in the history of humanity.

Bertholdt, hidden in his own ontological plane and holding his sword hesitantly, could not help but wonder why someone as bright as Erwin Smith still had a soldier so mentally damaged as Reiner in his ranks ... Moments later he would eventually understand that the reason was easy: Braun could be on the verge of collapse, but physically he was fucking tough and was above all a very, very good soldier. In a destroyed world, the commander could not afford to lose someone like that, regardless, unfortunately, to how fucked up he was.

Throughout the battle, Reiner, being Reiner, and with his mind fragile, influenced and full of admiration for Smith and his cause, could not help risking his life again and again to protect other soldiers, especially his friends. Because of that, it was more than obvious that sooner or later, he would be surrounded by a group of warrior angels willing to end his life.

Bertholdt did not even have to think about it. Reiner was a person who deserved to be happy, but who had had a life of suffering. His common sense told him it was not the right thing to do, but Bertholdt —in an act of pride reminiscent of Lucifer's— decided to give him one more chance to continue living.

He fought with the angels who were going to assassinate Reiner.

—What the fuck did you do? —The angel Eren told him angrily, but it was too late.

That night they would cut off his wings and banish him from the Kingdom of God.

The blond whose life had been forgiven was stunned by the angel. —You're real ... all my life you've been … —he whispered—. Wait, where are you going?

—I'll be expulsed from of paradise, Reiner. Find me in hell.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

Reiner barely and kept the knowledge after that event and even came to doubt it. However, days later, he found a half-dead man in the forest near his house. He had two wing cuts on his back and he was clearly magnanimous ...  
Completely baffled, he only knew that he could not leave that creature that looked so much like the angel that in his dreams had saved his life. He loaded it, loaded his sword and sneaked it to his little house. If Commander Erwin, or even worse if Commander Levi found out, he would be more than dead for doing such madness.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

—I do not understand it —said the blond with some annoyance— you came for me and you saved my life, however, it is yours that are destroying us.

Bertholdt ignored the fact that he was no longer one of them— I was a guardian angel, it was my duty to protect you, but ...

—But?

—You now it, that's no longer the mission of the angels. Now it is to end this world.

—I do not understand ... that was your new duty, but instead you continued with me, and because of her suspicions, I believe that the guardian angel of Historia is also with her.

Bertholdt cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wondered how much time his friend, Ymir, would miss to fall. Trying to explain it clearly, he told how it was that some guardian angels were still watching over their humans.

Three years of human history are nothing in angelic history. That is why many of the guardian angels, the hierarchy to which he belonged, still did not get rid of their work and remained with their proteges. Some were just postponing the inevitable, others did not want to take on their new occupation of apocalyptic warriors ... however there were many others who remained on the side of their humans for the curious fact that they had grown fond of them. "How not to do it? How not to do it if we spend a life by his side?", some angels would think. Seeing their weaknesses and their strengths, seeing what idiots they are, but also how good they can be. The truth was that these guardian angels could become fools and continue with their work, same that some ended with resignation when, in the middle of that hell in which the earth had become, his proteges died. However, it was happening that there were other angels whose purity could not bear the death -especially an unjust one- of those whom they had seen born and grow up. And then, they did the inevitable ... they fought for them and with that: they fell. A guardian angel must never intervene in this way with the human life assigned to them. They can only guide the humans and intervene against formal demons... However, those who fell could only wonder if they had not defended their humans from demons.

Reiner nodded and then, with some disbelief, looked at him—. Is there really a god up there who ordered to kill all the people?

Bertholdt denied—. Actually I do not know, there are different types of angelic beings, with a clear hierarchy among themselves ... In which I am, of the guardian angels below the archangels, nor dreaming of it we could never receive a direct order from that god, much less be in its presence.

—For real? I thought the angels ... you know, they were dancing around god all the time.

Bertholdt laughed heartily, that was one of the pleasures of being human—. Actually those are the seraphim.

Reiner raised an eyebrow—. OK…

They both laughed with fun.

—Well, this is not heaven, but you can stay.

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

The moons passed and with that, little by little, the sky cleared up. Both - the fallen angel and the human that had something luminous - without another place to go, stayed together.

The only thing left to them was that miserable life to which chance and agony had brought them. Slowly, each one carrying his own pain, but understanding as the days passed that it was easier to carry it together.

—I thought heaven was my place, but always, I always felt an unfulfilled longing for my home.

—Me too... the only thing I've longed for these years has been to feel at home.

They looked at each other with compassion and infinite affection. It was not just for having been a silent company for so many years, nor for feeling now as the only other resource. It was more, it had always been more. There were too many things they wanted to say, but they could wait, because for the first time tomorrow seemed possible and serene.

—We are in home. —Reiner said.

—We are in home. —Afirmed Bert. And if that was the decay of an angel, then it was too tender.

Reasoning things, both could come to the conclusion that both in the heaven and in the world very strange things happened, and that possibly very soon the reality in which they believed would end up destroying itself. But that, that could wait.

**.**

**.**

**.**


End file.
